Chapter 40
CHAPTER FORTY
FIONA
The next five days bleed into one another, and Aleksei and I find ourselves growing closer, finding a sliver of normalcy amidst the chaos that is our life. Each morning, I walk into work as if nothing in my world has changed, as if I’m not married to one of the most dangerous men in the country.
The ring stays on a chain beneath my blouse, hidden but close to my heart. The only way I can keep him with me without inviting questions I can’t answer.
I don’t ask what Aleksei does while I’m gone.
I don’t want to know. Not because I don’t care, but because I care too much.
If I let myself dwell on the details—on the blood, the brutality, the darkness—I might break.
So I compartmentalize. I focus on my case files, the mountainous to-do list I have each day.
And when I come home to him, I let myself breathe again.
Let myself sink into his arms, where I feel more myself than I ever have.
It also helps that our families blend together so smoothly. We see Emilia and Konstantin when we can, and my parents are beginning to soften to the idea of him. My father even shared a glass of wine with him last night.
Then there’s Aleksei. He’s there for me in every way that matters, and he seems to know just what I need before I even do. With each passing day, I find myself falling more for him until it turns dangerously close to love, though neither of us has said it.
I melt against his side, the low hum of the movie fading into nothing as his arm settles around me. My eyes drift shut, breathing syncing with his without even trying. These quiet moments are the ones I crave. The ones where the chaos outside doesn’t exist.
When the movie ends, Aleksei turns toward me, brushing a stray curl away from my cheek.
“I have a surprise for you. It’s something I wanted to show you before everything happened.” That usual wicked glint in his eyes is softened by something tender.
I narrow my gaze, forcing myself to forget the everything he’s talking about. “Now I’m curious.”
His mouth winds as he slips a hand into the pocket of his sweats and pulls out a black silk blindfold.
My brows shoot up. “Did you…conveniently have that there the whole time?”
A low laugh rumbles in his chest. “Yes. Now come on, get up. I want to take you somewhere.”
“Mm, I don’t know…” I scrunch my nose at him. “This is exactly what murderers say in horror movies before the girl gets chopped into pieces.”
His grin widens. “If I wanted to chop you up, detka, I would have done it by now.”
“Fine.” I sigh dramatically. “But only because I’m curious.”
He leans in and brushes a quick kiss to my lips. “Good enough for me.”
We walk out to the SUV together, and before I can climb in, he steps behind me, tying the blindfold around my eyes. The world goes dark, but his hands are there, steady at my waist, guiding me inside.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” I ask as he buckles my seat belt.
“No.” There’s an unmistakable grin in his tone.
“Are you going to murder me in the woods?”
“Not today.”
“I’ll take it.”
The drive is short. Less than ten minutes. When the car slows and stops, I sense the door open and Aleksei’s hand guiding me out.
“Okay, walk slow. We are on grass now.”
He steadies me with a hand on my waist as we make it a short distance.
“You ready?” he asks.
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
The blindfold comes off, and I blink against the golden light of the sun.
We’re standing in a wide clearing at the edge of the estate, tucked behind a cluster of birch trees.
There, in the center of the grass, is a laid-out picnic.
Blanket, pillows, plates covered in silver domes, and a bottle of wine already chilling in a bucket.
“A picnic?” The laugh slips out of me before I can stop it, from sheer disbelief that this big, terrifying man planned something so nice for me.
Aleksei winces like I stabbed him. “Okay, this was stupid. I knew Konstantin was wrong. Never mind.” He starts reaching for my hand to pull me back toward the car. “We’ll go out to dinner instead. Something fancy. I don’t know why I thought—”
“Wait.” I catch his arm and tug him back, hating that I could’ve hurt his feelings. “Aleksei, stop.”
He looks down at me, bracing for the worst, and something in my chest squeezes. I lift one hand to his cheek, brushing my thumb over the rough stubble there.
“Hey. I didn’t laugh because it was stupid.” I tilt his face toward mine so he has to hear every word. “I just didn’t know the extent of your soft side.”
He huffs, low and rough. “I don’t have a soft side.”
But the way he presses into my hand betrays him completely.
“Then maybe I’m hallucinating.” I rise onto my toes and kiss him. “But hallucination or not…I like it.”
His gaze moves over my face, studying me, a flicker of uncertainty there. “You sure you like this?”
“This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I just need time to get used to you being…less murderous and more romantic, that’s all.”
A sound that’s half growl slips from him. “Which do you like more?”
“Both.” I catch my bottom lip between my teeth, and the sound he makes in response sends a tremor through me.
Then he’s kissing me, mouth fierce and hungry, pulling me under until we break apart in a breathless tangle.
“Come on.” His eyes drag over me like a slow touch. “Let’s eat. Before I get hungry for something else.”
“Only if you promise to feed me.”
A low chuckle rumbles out of him, and before I can blink, the world tilts and I’m tossed over his shoulder, his arm locked around my thighs. “We can arrange that.”
He gives my ass a sharp smack, and I yelp.
“But only if you’re tied up,” he adds, far too pleased with himself.
“Maybe not,” I shoot back, heat curling through me. “I want to use my hands this time. Maybe feed you too.”
He stops mid-step, setting me down. And when he looks at me again, something inside him shifts, something possessive and warm all at once, like I’ve said the exact thing he didn’t know he needed to hear.
“I like the sound of that.” His fingers slide through mine, bringing the back of my hand to his lips, the kiss soft and lingering before he leads me toward the blanket.
We sink onto it together, our bodies entwined in a way that makes the food feel like an afterthought.
My thighs straddle his lap, his hands resting possessively at my hips, and every time I reach for a piece of fruit, he leans in and steals it from my fingers, brushing his lips over them before feeding it to me himself.
I can’t stop smiling. Can’t stop laughing against his mouth when he kisses me between bites. For once, everything feels…easy. Light. Like the world outside doesn’t exist. Like we’re just two people trying to pretend we’re normal.
His fingers tuck a strand of hair behind my ear, his attention fastened on me with something vulnerable flickering beneath the surface.
“I was raised to take what I wanted,” he says with a fractured sigh. “But you…you make me want to be worthy of it.”
“Aleksei…”
My eyes sting, and before I can push it away, his thumb sweeps away the tear that escapes. His vision locks with mine, and all I see is pure affection.
“Ya lyublyu tebya, moya ptichka,” he whispers. “I love you.”
My heart kicks harder, his confession plummeting deep, and the words rise out of me like they’ve been waiting for this moment.
“I love you too.”
Because I do, and even though I’ve been afraid to say it out loud, afraid of what it will mean for us and our future, I can’t keep it in anymore.
He freezes, like he needs to make sure he heard me right.
Then his mouth crashes into mine, fingers sliding through my hair, pulling me closer until I’m pressed completely against him, every inch of me molded to every inch of him.
When he finally pitches back, he leans in until our foreheads touch, neither of us willing to break the moment.
Moments pass before he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. “I have something for you. The surprise.”
I tilt my head. “Another one? Because the last one involved a blindfold, and I’m still traumatized.”
“This is the one I wanted to give you.” He grins, but it fades quickly as he scrolls on his screen, then turns it so I can see.
The text means nothing at first, just blocks of legal language, until the pieces click into place.
“Does this mean…”
My hand lands on my chest, finding this hard to believe. But the more of the contract I read, the more I see his signature on the bottom, the harder it is to deny what’s in front of me.
“You’re free,” he says simply. “I signed the vineyard over to you. It’s yours, Fiona, whether we are married or divorced. You have what you wanted now.”
The words land slow. Did he really do this?
He picks up my hand and kisses the center of my palm. “You can leave. You can divorce me if that’s what you want. I’m giving you your freedom.”
A laugh bubbles up, filled with disbelief. “You’re serious?”
He nods once.
I stare at this man who’s terrified me, infuriated me, consumed me…and now, somehow, undone me. This is something I never expected.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” I whisper. “But what if I don’t want to go? What if with you is where I was meant to be?”
He inhales sharply. “What are you saying?”
“That between all the hate and the insanity, somewhere in the middle of it all…” My throat thickens. “I fell in love with you completely, and I don’t want to let you go.”
He doesn’t move at first, just watches me like he’s afraid one wrong shift will shatter the moment. Then his hands rise to cradle the back of my neck.
“Thank God. Because I wasn’t planning on letting you go anyway.”
“I kind of figured that would be the case.”
I rest my forehead against his chest, my mouth stretching into a grin as I listen to the steady beat beneath my ear.
For the first time since everything began, I don’t feel trapped. I feel like I've ended up where I was always meant to be.
ALEKSEI